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Vitamin E against Cancer

If you take a multivitamin with Vitamin E or a Vitamin E supplement, check and see if it is a form called “alpha-Tocopherol.” If so, consider switching it out to a form of Vitamin E called “delta or gamma Tocotrienol.” Delta and gamma tocotrienols are derived from the seeds of annato (pictured above), which is what is used to make cheddar cheese orange. The color is very unstable and prone to oxidizing and turning brown so the plant protects it with delta and gamma tocotrienols. Tocotrienols can offer the same protection to your cells, preventing oxidative damage and the systemic inflammation that can follow. Many studies – both lab studies, animal studies, and human studies – demonstrate benefit from taking at least 200 – 300 mg of Tocotrienols a day in the following ways:

Healthy cell death (apoptosis)

Reduction in new blood vessel growth of tumors (cutting off their nutrient supply)

So many benefits with no side effects! Come on by the clinic to pick up a bottle or ask when you are in for your next appointment. You can also call to have your tocotrienols shipped to you: 630-321-9010.

I asked him, “Are you the angel of death? You must be to keep showing up at these times.” He paused and said, “Let’s just say you can think of me as an ‘evolution angel’.”

For years, emergency and trauma physician Michael Abrams saw his patients dying in every conceivable way. In time he began to wonder if there was anything he could do to help the souls of the dying make the harrowing transition into the next world. Extending himself to the dying in a silent communion akin to prayer, he made a life-changing discovery.

For anybody experiencing a sense of loss around death and dying, this book reconfigures our understanding around the process. From the learnings of one who has had much experience with death as an event, Dr. Abrams perspective offers comfort and hope.

Table of Contents

Introduction

p. 1

Chapter One
First contact – The nature of angels – The myth of evil.

p. 11

Chapter Two
Aging and death – The Prime Directive and the rationale for transparency.

Chapter Four
Designing your life in advance – Why we aren’t all rich and famous – The problem with eternity – The problem with reincarnation – The parable of the Sower and the Tares.

p. 45

Chapter Five
Free will or Divine will: Who is in control? – How angels answer prayers – Great misfortunes: Inevitable or changeable? – Begging to live on Earth – Helping others with positive thoughtforms.

Come October in Chicago, the spires of the Sears Tower glow pink against the night skyline. NFL players sport shocking pink chin straps and shoe covers. And since 1991, the color pink in a multitude of forms has been used to signify awareness that an estimated 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in 2011.

Breast cancer is not the most deadly of diseases that women face. More women die from lung cancer, and heart disease remains the number one killer. Breast cancer, however, has ignited in our popular culture a fervor to grow awareness and attention that far surpasses more statistically significant illnesses. Breasts – in both their physical and symbolic form – signify nourishment and sustenance as well as feminine beauty and sexuality, attributes that are elementally compelling.

The fact that companies and individuals have been swept up in a sea of pink in support of safeguarding the lives of wives, mothers, and daughters – and by extension – the cultural embodiment of nourishment, feminine beauty and sexuality – is not surprising. What is surprising is that despite the fervent support of millions of individuals and millions of dollars is that the incidence of breast cancer in developing countries remains alarmingly high, and women who are diagnosed with the disease continue to endure significant hardships as a result of conventional medical management for the disease, with slim to negligible gains in terms of survival rates.

A Voice of Integrity

In a seminal 2001 essay, “Welcome to Cancerland” (Harper’s Magazine November, 2001), journalist and activist Barbara Ehrenreich expounds on her thoughts, feelings and research inquiries preceding and surrounding her diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Engaging and punctuated with her signature wry humor, Ehrenreich recounts the initial anxiety, fear, and confusion in the aftermath of her biopsy followed by frank rejection and anger towards what she terms a breast cancer “cult” or “given [the] more than two million women, their families, and friends – ….a full-fledged religion.”

Ehrenreich acknowledges that some progress and certain strides have been made in terms of cultural acceptance of breast cancer as a disease. Gone are the days when “breast cancer was a dread secret, endured in silence and euphemized in obituaries as a ‘long illness.” Likewise a thing of the past is the grievous miscarriage of informed patient consent, “common in the seventies, of proceeding directly from biopsy to mastectomy without ever rousing the patient from anesthesia.”

Ehrenreich nevertheless expresses justifiable outrage at the inundation of “teddy bears [and] pink-ribbon brooches [that] serve as amulets and talismans, comforting the sufferer and providing visible evidence of faith” to the followers of the breast cancer cult. Her outrage springs not necessarily from the promotional efforts made by breast cancer awareness groups, but the fact that these “talismans of faith” are promoted in lieu of meaningful strides in reduction of breast-cancer-inducing environmental toxins or promotion of breast-saving healthful treatment modalities. “In the harshest judgement,” she proclaims, “the breast cancer cult serves as an accomplice in global poisoning – normalizing cancer, prettying it up, even presenting it, perversely, as a positive and enviable experience.”

In the name of advocacy, breast cancer groups have courted corporate sponsorship and have seriously compromised the integrity and usefulness of their message, as measured in a reduction in the incidence of breast cancer and an increase in the rate of survival. Of particular concern, breast cancer advocacy and awareness efforts on behalf of corporate sponsors have lead to a number of constraining and limiting beliefs and attitudes that some writers claim hinder and obfuscate the path to a world without breast cancer.

Infantilization to Exhort Obedience

Ehrenreich found not comfort, but a sense of questioning alarm that anyone would think to present an adult woman with cosmetics, teddy bears, and crayons upon receiving a diagnosis of a life-threatening disease. She muses, “Possibly the idea is that regression to a childlike state of dependency puts one in the best frame of mind with which to endure the prolonged and toxic treatments.” Of note, such “infantilization” as Ehrenreich terms it, does not have its counterpart in the support of men who receive a diagnosis of cancer. She points out that “men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not receive gifts of matchbox cars.” Ehrenreich suggests that this infantilization through the gifting of bears, crayons, and the like could be an insidious means of lulling women into a blind, unquestioning obedience. A slavish dependency on treatment modalities that given different circumstances, they would never consent to willingly.

Just as limiting and diversionary as the association of breast cancer with infantile products such as teddy bears are the efforts to “pretty-up,” feminize, and even sexualize the damage and hardships women incur as a result of conventional medical management and the disease itself. In the November 14, 2010 issue of the New York Times Magazine, writer and editor Peggy Orenstein poses the question, “What message are girls really getting from breast-cancer activism?” Many young girls are encouraged and readily participate in the promotion of “pink” products; rubber bracelets sporting the phrase, “I (heart) boobies,” and a slew of t-shirts with adolescent appealing irreverencies such as, “‘Save the Ta-Tas’ and ‘Save Second Base.’” Orenstein laments that “today’s fetishizing of breasts comes at the expense of the bodies, hearts, and minds attached to them,” and might not be the best context in which to frame breast health awareness for young women or our culture at large. Orenstein puts it, “sexy cancer supresses discussion of real cancer, rendering its sufferers – the ones whom all this is supposed to be for – invisible.”

The reality is that dying from breast cancer is not pretty and not sexy. In a 1980 study of 166 women with breast cancer who were autopsied following their death, 26% were reported as having died of pulmonary insufficiency. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7388758) Basically, these women had suffocated to death because their lung tissue had converted to tumor as their disease progressed beyond control. 14% died as a result of hepatic insufficiency, meaning their livers were no longer carrying out the functions necessary to life, once again because their livers had become mostly cancerous tissue. External symptoms of hepatic insufficiency include, but are not limited to: coated tongue, itchy skin, excessive sweating, offensive body odor, dark circles under the eyes, red swollen and itchy eyes, acne rosacea, brownish spots and blemishes on the skin, flushed facial appearance or excessive facial blood vessels. Other symptoms include jaundice, dark urine, pale stool, bone loss, easy bleeding, itching, small, spider-like blood vessels visible in the skin, enlarged spleen, fluid in the abdominal cavity, chills, pain from the biliary tract or pancreas, and an enlarged gallbladder.

While the conclusion of the study is more indicative of the personal bias’ of the researchers and publisher (the conclusion seeks to downplay the dangers of chemotherapy and the publisher is the American Cancer Society) the more significant and lasting impression created by the study is in the details. The authors describe the findings of the autopsies in impersonal, anatomical terms. However, removed from the clinical descriptions, a story of how each woman died can be inferred. A story of gradual degeneration and loss of bodily function accompanied by fear, pain, anger, depression, loneliness, and perhaps in the end, acknowledgement of the inevitable. The act of reducing breast cancer awareness to a prettily-colored product or a witty quip can provide welcome relief from what Orenstein terms, “combat fatigue,” a respite from the very real and grim realities that we all would rather not face on a day-to-day basis. At the same time, such an act of reduction and denial, “discourages understanding, undermin[es] the search for better detection, safer treatments, causes and cures.” The 166 women who participated in the Cancer study each chose to donate her body to science so that some enlightenment and good might come from her personal experience. Such acts must be given their due.

Pacification of Righteous Anger

One of Ehrenreich’s overriding contentions with mainstream breast cancer culture is that there is no room made for anger, dissent, or any attitude or emotional nuance other than “relentless brightsiding.” Women are expected to be accepting of their diagnosis, thankful for the treatments, and forever grateful that they passed the transformative initiation rites into survivorhood. Nevermind, as Ehrenreich posted to a Komen.org message board, the “debilitating treatments, recalcitrant insurance companies, environmental carcinogens, and…’sappy pink ribbons.’ The collective response or “chorus of rebukes” from fellow “survivors” cited a lack of appreciation for her “bad attitude” and the suggestion that Ehrenreich, “run, not walk to some counseling.” What is it about mainstream breast cancer culture that seeks to pacify righteous anger and smooth over dissent from the established norm?

In recently published works, authors Gayle A. Sulik and Samantha King both explore in-depth the well-oiled machinery of a lucrative market-driven philanthropic industry that has grown up around breast cancer. The very sincere hope within our culture that a “cure” will be found within our lifetimes is exploited by for-profit corporations that have readily jumped on the philanthropic bandwagon of “cause-related” marketing. Barbara Brenner, former executive director of the non-profit Breast Cancer Action comments on King’s work, Pink Ribbon, Inc, “Breast cancer advocacy is being transformed from meaningful civic participation into purchasing products.” Righteous anger and dissent do not sell cars, yogurt, cosmetics, or fried chicken.

Meaningful Action

Spearheaded largely through the efforts of San Francisco based non-profit Breast Cancer Action (BCA) (http://bcaction.org) organized pressure has been applied to create meaningful action within the breast-cancer-awareness philanthropic community. Termed “Think Before You Pink” Breast Cancer Action calls attention to “pinkwashing” or the marketing strategy employed by companies such as Yoplait, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Avon that identify themselves publicly as participants in breast cancer awareness campaigns, while manufacturing and marketing products that might contribute to the incidence of the disease.

In 2010, Kentucky Fried Chicken publicly partnered with Susan G. Komen, ostensibly to promote breast cancer awareness by packaging and selling their product in the signature KFC bucket done up in pink. Researcher and scientific advisory Board member of both Susan G. Komen and Breast Cancer Action, Ralph Moss, PhD commented on the unwholesome alliance, “At a time when healthy eating is under broad attack, Komen has chosen to associate itself with products that may, ironically, be linked to an increased incidence of breast cancer, especially in poor and minority communities.”

In 2008, Yoplait yogurt marketed pink-topped individual-sized yogurts made with milk from cows treated with rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone developed by Monsanto to increase milk production in dairy cattle and now produced by Eli Lilly, a company that also manufactures cancer treatment drugs). The link between consuming rBGH and the incidence of breast, colon and prostate cancers is compelling: https://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/past-campaigns/about/dairy-breast-cancer/

Public pressure applied through the efforts of Breast Cancer Action’s Put a Lid on It campaign led Yoplait manufacturer General Mills to repeal the use of rBGH produced milk from their products.

Contextualizing Awareness

While the actions and fund garnering policies of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation and the Avon Foundation for Women can be viewed as contradictory and hypocritical, some efforts have been made to advance science and research that might eventually lead to a meaningful reduction in the incidence of breast cancer. Susan G. Komen for the Cure commissioned a scientific review of environmental factors and the incidence of breast cancer. The review was conducted by the Silent Spring Institute and sought to report on “modifiable influences on breast cancer.” The results of the compilation are available here:

Still, if you want to see charitable contributions and efforts go towards meaningful strides in reducing the incidence and increasing the chances of survival of people diagnosed with breast cancer, consider supporting the following organizations:

The following is cited from a Change.org petition site posted by Amy Davis of Willowbrook.

Lorig Construction Company has requested a conditional use permit from DuPage County to build an asphalt plant at 9900 S. Route 83, Lemont, IL. The proposed plant would be next to Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, the Des Plaines River, Centennial Trail, the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal, Red Gate and Henry de Tonty Woods Forest Preserves and several residential areas.

Increased truck traffic on Illinois Route 83 – it’s estimated that between 80 to 320 twenty-ton trucks per day would be entering and exiting Route 83 in the bridge area between Bluff Road and Archer Avenue.

Air pollution – Asphalt plants emit hazardous air pollutants, harmful to people and wildlife in the area. According to the EPA, this type of plant typically emits up to 2000 pounds of hazardous air pollutants per year. EPA report

Fire and hazardous waste – there is no water service at this location and there is only one point of access, preventing effective firefighting and putting all of the surrounding area at risk.

Health risks – Asphalt plants produce PM-10 particles, small enough to get into the lungs and cause serious health problems.

Revised in 1994, Cancer as a Turning Point by pyschotherapist Laurence LeShan is a guide that frames dealing with a diagnosis of cancer in a way that is not usually addressed by conventional oncology, and yet instructs on our most powerful tool we possess for healing: the human mind.

The book is just the start of a path towards inner healing work for people with a diagnosis of cancer, their families, and health care professionals. LeShan and his colleagues summarize their work:

Feelings and thoughts neither cause nor cure cancer, but they are integral aspects of the whole person. As you reshape the ecology of your total being with meaningful psychological and lifestyle changes, you can mobilize your own life force – whether dealing with a life-threatening illness, generally improving your health, or working toward a life of greater enthusiasm and zest.

Explore “mobilizing your life force” whether you or somebody you care about has received a diagnosis of cancer.

Click to visit LeShan’s website and take advantage of the most powerful healing tool you possess – your heart’s desire to live life fully

This recipe draws from an Ayurvedic dal (lentil-based) soup recipe. The word Ayurvedic combines the sanskrit ayur (life) with veda (science or knowledge) and is a study spanning several thousands of years. Learn more about the fascinating history and study of Ayurvedic Medicine on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) site and from Deepak Chopra’s site.

Colorful and flavored with ginger and carrot, this extremely simple soup can be served with brown rice as a stew or by itself on a chill Fall evening. Use the full-fat coconut milk to get the most flavor and healthy fats.

Give the split peas and lentils a good rinse – until they no longer put off murky water. Place them in an extra-large soup pot, cover with the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

In the meantime, in a small dry skillet or saucepan over low heat, toast the curry powder until it is quite fragrant. Be careful though, you don’t want to burn the curry powder, just toast it. Set aside. Place the butter in a pan over medium heat, add half of the green onions, the remaining ginger, and raisins. Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.

Add the toasted curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. The texture should thicken up, but you can play around with the consistency if you like by adding more water, a bit at a time, if you like. Or simmer longer for a thicker consistency. The thicker this soup got, the more I liked it.

I’ve been enjoying big ladles of this soup over ~1/2 cup of warm farro (leftover from this Farro & Bean Stew) – brown rice was good as well. Sprinkle each bowl generously with cilantro and the remaining green onions.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, the truth;
Where there is doubt, the faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Many patients report improved quality of life for a variety of ailments with the use of Low Dose Naltrexone or LDN. Follow the link for a video demonstrating Natrexone’s proposed mechanism of action in its capacity as an immune modulator.

In-Vitro Studies on Insulin and Chemotherapy – Visit the following links for studies originally published in Chinese on the enhancing effects of insulin when used in conjunction with chemotherapy.

A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.
– Ralph Nader

A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.
– Ralph Nader

This month…

Cancer and Consumer Advocacy

Unnecessary Dangers of Using Microwave Ovens

Cancer and Our Environment: Two Crusaders

Upholding Organic Guidelines

Unnecessary Dangers of Using Microwave Ovens
Microwave dangers

Hazards of Microwave Ovens
Microwaves have been a popular consumer product for several decades in this country, with little to no mention of the harm they can do to food and the humans who eat that food. First developed during WWII to cook food for soldiers on the move, they were subsequently banned in Russia in 1976 due to the overwhelming scientific evidence of the harmful effects of eating food prepared by such means.

Unnecessarily Risky
There is an extensive body of research demonstrating the many dangerous effects that microwaving has on food and the people who eat that food. With other means of cooking food quickly and safely, there is absolutely no reason to take such risks with the food you eat. Please click on the picture of the microwave for more documentation on the dangers of using the device.

A Safe, Sensible Alternative: Convection Ovens
A convection oven works by circulating hot air to quickly and evenly heat food as a safe, sensible alternative to microwave ovens. See the link below for more information on the benefits of convection ovens.

Benefits of Convection Ovens..

Cancer and Our Environment: Two CrusadersRachel CarsonWork of Rachel Carson

Published in 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring documented the deadly impact of pesticides on all levels of the food chain, from birds and animals to humans. The book is widely recognized as the beginning of environmental health awareness.

Carson’s Legacy
Rachel Carson died at the age of fifty-six from complications arising from cancer treatment. And because of her work, public awareness has been raised to a consciousness of the impact human activity has upon the health of the environment and by extension, the health of those who live in that environment. The popularity of Al Gore and his mission to create public awareness of global warming follows in the wake of the movement of which Carson was an integral part.

Sandra Steingraber
Biologist, author, and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber has researched and written several works on how industrial processes and agriculture impact the environment and contribute to the incidence of cancer.

Her latest publication, “Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood” looks at the issue of environmental health with a mother’s passion to protect, nurture, and create the best of all possible worlds for her baby.

Sandra Steingraber’s Website…

Upholding Organic Guidelines

Planting Peace
Growing Popularity of Organic Labelled Products

Americans spend approximately 6 billion per year on organic labelled food and this amount is growing. As an expanding, lucrative market, industrial agriculture corporations are taking advantage of the trust placed in organic labelled products.

As a result, the standards for organic labelling are jeopardized as corporations more interested in immediate profit than sustainable growth flout the standards of organic, sustainable food production at the expense of the environment and the consumer.

Creating and Maintaining Integrity in Organic Guidelines

Organic guidelines in the United States are regulated by the USDA. Like all governmental agencies, the USDA is subject to influence by corporate pressure from lobbyists.

There are also organizations who work to maintain the integrity of organic guidelines to create sustainable, workable ways of maintaining environmental health.

Please visit the link below for more information on Organic Consumers Association, a non-profit entity “campaigning for health, justice, sustainability, peace, and democracy,” and be aware of what “organic” means for the food that you eat.